Diffusion of Innovations: Tik Tok

    TikTok being a newer social media platform makes it a perfect example for the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. "The DOI theory explains how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses/spreads through a specific population or social system (LaMorte, 2019)." Since its creation in 2016 TikTok has been downloaded over 2 billion times and currently has 850 million users (Aslam, 2020). TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that allows users to create and share videos that range from 3 to 60 seconds.

    Because of TikTok's brand-new addition to the social media platform market there is a clear path to identify the path and process that TikTok will follow through the DOI theory. The first step in the DOI theory path are the innovators. The innovators are the people who are open to risks and the first to try new ideas. With TikTok, the innovators could be the people who work closely with testing the app or users who were introduced to the app by people who work for the app. By the initial spread being by word-of-mouth, there is a heightened sense of trust and people are more inclined to share their opinions with others, once they use that app themselves. The early adopters are the people who are interested in trying new technologies and establishing their utility in society. The early adopters for TikTok are the users who joined late 2017, early 2018. They are the users who started making the original content, which then people made fun of on larger platforms and some of those viewers joined TikTok. This is the Early majority, they pave the way for use of an innovation within mainstream society and are part of the general population. I believe this is the part in TikTok's timeline pre-coronavirus. There was still a large majority of users who still did not download the app. Now, TikTok is still very popular and there is no other platform that threatens their popularity so I believe that as of now, they have reached a plateau of users but are still growing, but slowly. 

    TikTok gained popularity so quickly because of how fast it spread and was highlighted/promoted on other sites. Twitter, Reddit, Instagram that covered any all topics of interest featured videos from the app and more people took interest and downloaded the app. I do not believe that TikTok has reached the "late adopters" segment yet because it is still an extremely popular app and as stated before, there are not other platforms that threaten its popularity at the moment. Although, people may be joining the app later than others, a large wave of people joined during March-April 2020 during the beginning of quarantine. Some Americans are not adopters at all because TikTok is a Chinese governed app and they are afraid that people choose not to join at all because of rumors about personal security and information. In August, Donald Trump threatened to ban the app because it was owned by a Chinese company. People feared that American data was being shared, but many fail to realize, this isn't just an issue with TikTok, this issue can arise in any and all situations with any technological devices. 

References

Aslam, S. (2020, October 28). TikTok by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/tiktok-statistics/

LaMorte, W. W. (2019, September 9). Behavioral Change Models. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html